John Moores is gone, and while his stay came with pluses, it's addition by subtraction. Whatever the disconnected Moores is into these days, it's obvious major-league baseball wasn't it.

So, thanks for the memories ---- four playoff appearances, a World Series trip and helping construct a beautiful downtown ballpark. Now hopefully we're struck with amnesia over the Padres becoming a national punch line.

So get smiling and let's welcome former Dodgers owner Peter O'Malley, his clan of sons and nephews, the sudsy and successful local businessman Ron Fowler and sensational golfer Phil Mickelson.

Tee it up, men, and we can't wait to catch you at the turn.

But before heading out, are you open to a head's up or two?

Flipping the Padres' persona of being cheap and chumps takes some doing. The Padres' recent run of mediocrity looks encouraging when matched against the patch of wretched baseball displayed in the opening months.

But bad is bad, and entering play Thursday 15 games shy of .500 is nothing to brag about.

Boast, if you will, of better days ahead with O'Malley's hands on the wheel. Because this car wreck of a season, with Padres fans decimated more than the team's starting pitching, needs not be duplicated.

Before your initial press conference and obtaining a sore back from well-wishers, here's how to start fast in what Padres boosters pray isn't a slow ride to respectability:

Padres on TV

The biggest path to a fan's heart is making sure they can access your product from that idiot box, or new-fangled flat screen, hanging in their living rooms. The stalemate on the Padres' absence from local TV has more durability than the Chargers' top running back. Surely there is common ground to be found, and if O'Malley channels Columbus and sets sail to discover it, he'll have his own parade, and not just in Little Italy.

Expand the payroll

This has started with the team putting its bucks where its mouth is in securing outfielders Carlos Quentin and Mark Kotsay and closer Huston Street. The Padres will never have the Yankees' purchasing muscle, but that doesn't mean they have to share sand with a bunch of 100-pound weaklings. A $100 million payroll in 2013, up from $61 million, has a grand ring to it.

Move in the fences

The era of performance enhancing drugs is over ---- well, save the San Francisco cheaters. But the dimensions and weather conditions at Petco Park lead to nine innings of three flies up. The O'Malleys don't need to go Wally Moon on us and construct a tall left-field fence some 200 feet from home plate. But if you're in the entertainment business, in a region with countless entertainment options, it's best to entertain. Too many Padres games resemble Ground Hog's Day: one low-scoring affair after another.